Purple Heart Moving Group

1/14/20 my disabled wife and I engaged Purple Heart Moving to move us on 4/23/20. We had accepted an offer on our home with a closing date of 4/23. On 1/23/20 the offer fell through and on 1/29/20 we accepted a different offer with a rent back agreement such that we could stay in our home until our new home was built. On 1/30/20 we changed the pickup date to 8/16 because that was the date our new home was scheduled to be completed. On 5/23/20, I contacted Purple Heart Moving to say that we wanted to cancel the contract. Believing that we were well in advance of the 5 day notice to cancel within the pickup date of 8/16, we thought we would get a refund of our $1330 deposit minus 5% as the contract states. HOW WRONG I WAS! Purple Heart informed us, via email, that we were outside of our ORIGINAL pickup date of 4/23 therefore no refund was forthcoming. I emailed Purple Heart that we had changed the pickup date 2 weeks after it was scheduled back in January, and I was not informed, at the time, that our contract required us to adhere to the original pickup date. Their reply stated that their contract clearly stated that no refund if cancelled within 5 days of pickup or after pickup date. Of course the pickup date they are using was our first one scheduled not the second one. Purple Heart’s name implies they are helpful to veterans, but we believe their actions demonstrate otherwise. I am a veteran and we’ve probably lost our money on a technicality, but maybe this complaint will help other veterans to keep theirs.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1330

My fiance and I are exhausted, emotionally drained, and distraught about the experience we had. We hired PHM to help us move from Bloomington-Normal, Illinois to Columbia, Missouri in mid June.

There aren't enough characters to describe how much of a trainwreck it was to work with this company, but here are the highlights:

*Continuously had to chase the central office down for communication in relation to questions we had about our move as well as updates about our move, even up to the day of our move. I've never worked with a moving company that has made the consumer do so much work.

*On day of move, movers were NINE HOURS LATE. We had to call repeatedly to figure out where the heck they were. We found out after numerous requests for updates that the truck had broken down on its way to us, but nobody deemed it important to give us this update unless we requested it specifically.

*Movers showed up in a smaller Budget rental truck with Oklahoma plates, which made us wary because any reputable mover or logistics company we have used in the past has their own branded fleet of vehicles.

*This is when we learned that Purple Heart sub-contracts with other companies (which makes sense, since the company is based in Florida).

*The driver overall was very unprofessional and neither of them attempted to show us any identification or credentials identifying them as a mover. Initially neither of them wore masks. Neither wore foot coverings. They attempted to shake our hands and did not social distance.

*The truck was already filled with other people's belongings.

*They were unable to guarantee that all of our items would fit in their truck, or that they would be able to deliver them that same day to our new home.

*When we expressed that we didn't think logistically this was a good fit for us and that we were uncomfortable moving forward, they started aggressively throwing moving blankets back into their truck and did a donut with their wheels squealing on the road, almost hitting our car, out of the driveway.

This whole incident occurred almost three weeks ago and we have still not received an update from PHM about recovering our $700+ deposit. An absolute nightmare from start to finish.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1900

I would definitely not use this broker again. I would not go through ANY broker again. Too many parties involved and no one party really assumes responsibility of taking care of you the customer. The broker has you sign a contract with one set of rules and then when they broker it out to the actual moving company doing your move the moving company has you sign a contract with them that has another set of rules. So which contract actually takes precedence?? Good luck with that because they both claim both rules apply.

Negative:

1) Salesperson (Nick) did a "hard sell". Once he gave me quote he did not want me to get off the phone to take time to review and think about. Wanted to know why I would need to review and what it would take to get my deposit to book move right then and there.

2) I provided an accurate inventory and customer service admitted paperwork and inventory looked in order. I questioned if they allotted enough space for some items and they said yes they allotted "quite a bit". I was quoted a total of 1300 cubic ft and once picked up came in at 2000 cubic ft costing me an additional $2600. Did broker under quote cubic ft to make quote look appealing then after the fact you have NO choice but to pay additional??

3) Contract with broker states for my move distance 3-10 business days for DELIVERY providing no "unforeseen" circumstances. DELIVERY did not happen until the 19th business day. Must have been "unforeseen" circumstances. The actual company doing the move (not the broker) had my stuff in their possession for 4 weeks and nothing I could do about it.

4) At least 3 customer service people from broker sending me emails and NEVER got to speak to the salesperson who did the "hard sell" to begin with. Once move was booked salesperson is never to be heard from again. They even send emails making sure your ONLY contact is with customer service.

5) When I had to make the next payment at pickup I had to make this payment directly to the company doing the move and not the broker. The head person at pick up who did all the paperwork (i.e. new contract, inventory, etc) took my credit card info which was done on a piece of paper and THEN he had to take a picture of my driver's license front and back AND my credit card on his own personal phone. Now if that isn't some credit card merchant violation and identity theft waiting to happen I don't know what is. I had no choice as I didn't opt to go get a postal money order and had NO idea they would go through that process to take my credit card for payment. I assumed (shame on me) that they would just have one of those little machines to run it through.

6) Antiquated ways to make payment especially in today's age of technology. You'd think they would get that figured out by now.

Positive:

1. The people who did the pick up did a very good job of blanketing and shrink wrapping everything.

2. The dispatcher with the moving company who arranged for delivery was understanding about what I had been through in this whole process. Even though Purple Heart never said sorry for anything.

These are facts. You be the judge.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10500

STAY AWAY! They promised me a credit, they damaged my property and now won't return my calls. I have moved several times in my life both short and long distances. This is BY FAR, THE WORST EXPERIENCE I have every had. From scheduling (they told me one day on the phone but when the called to confirm, it was not that day and suddenly I'm told they get a two day window). The pick up. Total bait and switch. I specifically told the guy who quoted this what floor I was on. when the movers showed up, I had to give them an additional $150 in cash or they would not move me.. Another bait and switch. Things seemed to get better, 3 different people told me they would credit me $150 on my final bill. Then, when the RUDE person from the actual movers called me, she said no credit was due. I then called Purple Heart AGAIN, and they said, yes, you would get the credit. Even the rude lady from the movers called me back and said I would get the credit. not over yet. The next morning she texts me and said it's $75/floor and that they would only give me a $50 credit.. Nowhere in my. paperwork or in any of the discussions with the many people, did ANYONE mention $75/floor. This is not about the money.. I could care less.. This is about a shady company with shady employees who bait and switch you at every corner. By the way, the wonderful toll free customer service number they say is so great, good luck getting someone to answer the actual phone.. I say 90% of the time, I went into voice mail. It is now 4 days after my move, I have two messages into them about the credit and my damaged furniture and they have not returned my call. THERE ARE TOO MANY GOOD REPUTABLE COMPANIES OUT THERE TO EVEN CONSIDER Purple Heart MOVING especially if they give you a good price, because that will change when they know they have you backed into a corner. I will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. This company does not deserve to be in business. Thank you..

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2000

I was helping my mother move from Arkansas to Oregon after her 31 year retirement from Proctor and Gamble.. I came across the Purple Heart Moving Group as one of the possible candidates to help move my mother. I believed them when they told me that they gave to veterans organizations and they would take good care of my mom for us. That was not the case.. When a local Arkansas company showed up to move my mom, they told her the charges would be $2000 higher than what she was quoted. For me this would have been bad enough, but to do this to a 66 year old woman that is already emotional about leaving the same company of 31 years.. moving half way across country to live with my sister, a new life, a new state, a new home.. this was NOT okay.

3 weeks into this move and my mother still has not gotten her personal belongings a keep sakes delivered.

BTW.. once this all started, we could not even get anyone on the phone from Purple Heart. No customer service.. not a sales person.. no one.

I DO NOT recommend this company. Please look elsewhere.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4000

No Purple Heart here. These people are Black-Hearted Liars and Thieves. Unless you're ok throwing money away for nothing, suggest you run! Before I signed their contract, owner, Mike, promised to return my $2099 deposit if I had to cancel my move. Otherwise I would never have signed. Due to financial issues, today I had to cancel my move. I thought a man stood by his word. I thought I could count on Mike. But no! They are keeping 100% of my deposit and returning ZERO! Even if you're not a senior like me, who wants to lose thousands of dollars??

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4100

Beware of a company DBA , Purple Heart Moving Group. This company is a broker and not an actual mover! They aren’t very forthcoming about that except in the fine print. They aren’t a very good one either. In my opinion they are more of a lead generation company than a moving company. They advertise and have fake high ratings on several websites just to get calls and collect money to send you to an actual mover. They provided no actual service. They have a good sales team, but that’s pretty much their only strong suit. We certainly regret not having vetted this company further before hiring them for our long distance move. Unfortunately we investigated them more in depth after our nightmare with them. We quickly discovered that how they treated us, is pretty much their standard MO. They tell you everything you want hear while doing their sales pitch, give a lowball estimate (and tell you it’s got a 10-15% cushion built in) and then jack the price up 50% the day before a truck shows up to get your stuff. Of course by then it’s too late to do anything else. If that was our only problem we could have lived with it. But unfortunately they faltered every step of the way. When the actual moving company PHMG hired showed up with a 1700 cubic foot rented Penske truck, after we paid for over 2200 cf, they refused to help us further. They feigned concerned, and said they would try to contact the carrier, and then we never heard back from them. Our phone calls went unanswered and when we finally did reach someone the next day, they told us they had met their contractual obligation and it was our fault because we didn’t give them a complete inventory. This simply wasn’t true! We counted every size of box, measured furniture, and even told them about every loose item right down to our granddaughter’s scooter! If they had sent the size of truck we paid for, everything would have fit. Fortunately our buyers were understanding and let us keep stuff in the garage until we could make arrangements to get the rest of our items. My husband ended up having to rent a uhaul and make an 1100 mile round trip to pick up the remainder of our items. On top of that, We were never told, that our stuff was being sent to an unconditioned storage facility in New Jersey, we were charged an additional $650 for plastic wrap, they up sold us an additional worthless insurance policy for another $750, they charged an additional $150 for moving a grandfather clock and then broke it, they strapped our mattresses and box springs to the back of the outside of truck, and a large number of our items were damaged. And apparently our items are only insured for .60 per pound and it’s extremely difficult and cumbersome to file a claim through the third party. We thought about suing them but found out (again in the fine print) that any lawsuits have to be filed in the state of Florida and that if we lost we were responsible for their attorney fees. We did file a claim through the BBB and PHMG did reimbursed us $500 even though they cost us thousands in unnecessary expenses and stress! Avoid this scam of a company at all costs!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $13000

We had a horrible experience with this company. They call you every day, every hour and tell you everything you want to hear and push you to sign the contract and get your down payment. Once they get it, it is all in the air about who will pick up your belongings, what day and what time. They were to show up on a Friday between 10:00 – 12:00 to pick up our belongings that was all packed and ready to go. The day before, they contact us and change the day to Saturday. On Saturday, at 6:00 am, they call us and let us know that they will be there at 7:00 am. We had to jump out of the bed and take a cab to go to the apartment so that we can be there by 7:00 am. The first thing they tell us is that we need to pay them 20% gratuity on top of the cash for the pickup. I had to read and show them the contract that there is no such requirement for the pickup. Then they said that paying them with credit card is okay. So we did. Within 15 minutes after they took our belongings, we get a text and call from the credit card company that there are charges on several online stores for over $1,500 on the card we just used to pay the movers. They had taken the information from the card and were using it to purchase online merchandize. Good thing most everything purchase was rejected by the credit card company after we let them know that it wasn’t us using the card. However, we had to go through so much pain to change everything connected to our card number and get a new one sent to us. Then after one month of storage and one month before our move to another state, we informed them about the delivery date, giving them ample time to schedule the delivery. Mind you, this date was also already on the moving bill. After the delivery date confirmation by the moving company, we followed up again in two weeks and everything was confirmed again. Three days before we fly to our destination and to take possession of our belongings, we contacted the movers again to see that everything was on time. They informed us that our belongings are still in their storage in NJ and will be put on the truck in the next few weeks! We said weeks? They let us know that they don’t guarantee a delivery date and it could take 3-21 days from today. I e-mailed them a copy contract where it said a window of 3-5 days. When I provided them with all their conformation evidence and the contract terms, the rude lady started yelling at me and kept saying 3-21 days. What could we do. They had our belongings. I finally had to get our attorney involved and have him send a stern e-mail demanding our belongings shipped. We finally got our belongings delivered 3 days after our arrival at our destination. Meanwhile, we had to incur over $1500 of hotel and attorney cost. NEVER AGAIN I USE THESE PEOPLE. THEY ARE UNETHICAL, LIARS and RUDE. Save yourself thousands of dollars and just rent a U-Hall and move things yourself.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $1600

They are a complete scam! My $4000 initial quote - later increased to $5200 when I updated the inventory - ended up being $8100. The scam starts when they tell you that their prices are lower since they give the "binding moving estimate" over the phone. You later realize there is nothing binding about their quote. Of the $8100 paid, Purple Heart kept $1600. They do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to earn this money. If they actually return a phone call, they do nothing but lie and placate in very canned responses. They do not even have the decency to pretend that they care about you or the move. Any issues that arise are either your fault or the moving company they brokered. Example of lies: (1) they told me they add a buffer for normal household items, but later find out that I was at fault for neglecting to mention that I had an ironing board and vacuum. (2) I was told that 4-6 packers and movers would show up the day of the move. In actuality, 2 showed up and had to revise the move to a day later. In order to be out of my house for the new buyers' walk-thru, I and two friends needed to pitch in and help pack. We worked 8 hours straight. (3) I was told the movers would be local, they actually came from 2 -3 states away and arrived 2 hours late. My move date was 1 day late. (4) I told them most of the packing was complete except for the kitchen and garage, they did not communicate with the movers to have dish boxes. The movers showed up with not only the wrong packing materials but not enough and had to run out to purchase materials. Purple Heart does NOT communicate or manage expectations. (5) They told me that since it was a short move (161 miles), my goods would arrive on my requested date. Their contract says they have 30 days, but they assured me that was not the case for me. They in turn told the movers that it was a pickup with next day delivery. I had, however, told them I could not move in until 5 days later. I was homeless for 5 days as they delivered 10 days later. And only because the movers took pity on me (thank you Lily!), I was able to secure a delivery date. Purple Heart did NOT return a single call while I was homeless without a delivery date. They sound like they know what they're doing but they are NOT an organized, professionally run company. They quote low, do not respond or advocate for the consumer and you ALWAYS pay more. I have moved dozens of times - both locally and nationally - and never have I experienced this type of mismanaged and stressful mess. I am a well-seasoned professional but was reduced to tears of frustration due to Purple Heart's complete incompetence and lack of customer service. Read all the reviews, we all say generally the same thing. Lastly, I find it interesting that you cannot leave a review on Purple Heart's website. They are not confident enough in their own value to allow reviews. Avoid this company at all costs to protect your wallet, your health and your emotional well-being.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8100

A 5K quote went to 10K and I couldn't do anything about it. UPDATE - Still can't. My initial conversations with Purple Heart = great. Sales people were kind and helpful as I have never used movers before. A few days before the pickup, they called to reconfirm and I adjusted the amount of stuff I had for the quote. Even asked for a few TV boxes. Again, the sales people were kind and reassuring.

So, imagine my surprise with 3 teenagers show up in a large truck, a few hours late and start walking through my house. No Purple Heart, this is another company. I realize that Purple Heart just arranges it all. Purple Heart are not the movers. Red FLAG 1. The young foreman walks through the house and says to me that he thinks there is more stuff there than on the contract. I ask him how much more? He says, "just a little." He then also explains to me that we will be paying for packing costs like boxes, wraps and more. THIS was the first time that I had heard of this cost. Outside of the TV boxes, not once had someone walked me through that. Red FLAG 2. They start packing up. They're doing a good job and being mostly careful with all of it. They're putting everything in boxes. Everything. A fan? Gets a box. A picture frame that's wrapped? Gets a box. I'm thankful they were respectful with my stuff but even the washer and dryer..got a box. That I was paying for..that I did not know about before. We're leaving CA and heading to Oregon the very next day. They have everything packed up in the truck. Everything. It's 8pm the day before I'm moving. He tells me that the original quote of square footage was just over a thousand sq ft. And the actual sq footage is 2400 sq ft. WHAT? How was the quote so far off? But now I'm stuck.

Purple Heart was not answering my phone call (cause it was way after hours) and I'm leaving the next day. So, I agree to pay the initial cost and let him know that I will be calling to complain. SO, the next day Saturday September 19th, 2020..I call Purple Heart. Customer service answers. I walk her through what happened. She asked if the Forman had walked me through a new quote once he had walked through the house. I said no. She seemed concerned. She said that she would get back to me. She did not. I called each day that week and left them a message. No response. Then, I got an email response with the contract of the moving company that I signed. That was it. I wrote back that I was not satisfied, asking why their quote was SO far off? Customer service rep Mercedes Grullen's actual response was only this: "We provide an over the phone estimate. Of course an estimate given over the phone is not expected to be 100% solid final price this is why we have the walk thru revision in place. This information is in detail on the estimate that is signed off on when you book your move Mr. Peterson." I questioned again why their sq footage quote was so far off? No response. Fast forward to today. October 20th, 2020. I have left more than 10 voicemails since then. I leave a voicemail for customer service and let them know that I have not been contacted about the storage or payment for that of my stuff and that I have left a ridiculous amount of voicemails and that if they didn't call back soon, I would only have the recourse of leaving bad reviews and that I was upset.

15 minutes later, got a call back from Mercedes. She connects the moving company rep to the phone. In summary, Mercedes continued to make this my fault. The moving company (SNY) Relocation, said they only would reevaluate the SQ footage as they loaded it back onto the truck and credit me back anything if the sq footage changed. The foreman had me sign the revised quote at the end of the job..not before. Because I was naive, he tricked me. If their quote was even remotely accurate from the beginning, if they told me about the cost of moving supplies, and if the Forman had told me how far off the quote was..I would not have done this.

Apologize. Take responsibility. Adjust your quoting process. Offer some type of financial adjustment to me. Advocate for me to have a cost change with the moving company. Address the fact that the foreman did not walk me through the adjusted quote. Communicate that EVERYTHING has to be in a box..yes..even the washer and dryer. Communicate that Purple Heart is just the admin and is not the actual moving company. File this complaint about Mercedes Grullen and address this with her. Why were there so many voicemails and NO real explanation, no empathy or customer service care? DON'T use this company..you'll get screwed!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10025